It's June which means summer has officially arrived. In the cake decorating world, summertime brings the annual ICES convention! YAY! The ICES convention is an important yearly tradition for the ISAC team; Chef Nicholas first came to the US in the 1980s to teach and demonstrate at an ICES convention. Chef Nicholas has been a fixture at the yearly event since then. After opening the International Sugar Art Collection, there has always been a vendor booth at the convention as well. The 2018 ICES convention in Cincinnati, Ohio will be no different. Chef Nicholas is teaching, and we will have our world-famous vendor booth for loads of retail therapy. 

After two weeks of royal wedding blogs, it seems fitting that this week I get to introduce the third module of Renshaw Academy- Royal Icing! This is the third Renshaw Academy class being offered by Chef Nicholas Lodge this year. It is one of three modules needed to earn the Renshaw Academy Master Certification! This class offers two brand new techniques cakes, designed by Chef Nicholas specifically for this module! 

Last week I delved into the two ingredients that would star in the wedding cake made in honor of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: lemon and elderflower. This week, I thought I was share some pictures of the simple, rustic wedding cake! The cake was a simple sponge cake, with elderflower and lemon syrup (the elderflower syrup was created at Sandringham one of the Queen's estates!). It was filled with fresh lemon curd, and iced with an elderflower Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and topped with fresh flowers, including peonies. Below you will find a cool video posted on The Royal Family twitter page; it is a Q&A with the cake's creator Claire Ptak. 

Have you heard there is a big wedding this weekend? Like a royally big wedding. Ha, you see what I did there?! All joking aside, Prince Harry (grandson of Queen Elizabeth II) is marrying Miss Meghan Markle (an American!). In Britain, fruitcake is the traditional choice for wedding cake flavors. In fact, When Prince William and Catherine Middleton married, they had an eight-tiered fruitcake with sugar flowers and royal icing. Harry and Meghan are breaking with traditional, and have opted for a sponge cake with fresh flowers and buttercream... and flavored with elderflower and lemon. When I was engaged and visiting bakeries for taste testing, I did not come across a single elderflower and lemon flavored cake. I thought it might be fun to discuss these flavors in today's blog, and in honor of the royal couple and wedding cakes everywhere!

Cake, cookie, cupcake, and candy making is our business at ISAC (what, you guys didn't know that? HA!!). You may have also noticed we sell a lot of tools to make all those sweet and delicious treats. To the uninitiated, a cake supply store selling floral tape is a bit confusing, but we all know that Chef Nicholas is the all time reigning champ on finding sweet related uses for ordinary everyday products. Because Chef Nicholas is so creative, he sees things like  ice cube trays as flower formers. Things we mere mortals would never be able to envision ourselves. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen Chef Nicholas pull out a mundane tool or household object, and then do something incredible with... the best part is hearing his students actually OOH and AHH during this mind blowing process.

My favorite example of this was a few years back at our Grand Holiday Open House event. Chef Nicholas had a cake on display that had fondant in the exact same texture as a comfy, cozy thermal shirt. Many people were murmuring that there must be a new texture mat out, because how else could you achieve that look. When Chef Nicholas presented the cake during his demonstration he whipped out a piece of drawer liner. Yes you read that right. DRAWER LINER. He simply pressed it onto the fondant and voila! Instant thermal cake. I mean, come on man! 

Hiya everyone! I thought I would do something special this week. I have been wanting to do staff spotlight blogs for a while, and I just never get a chance to fit them into the blog. Well, as I was prepping for the blog this week, I realized that my work BFF's birthday was this week! I thought to myself, classes and cake decorating can wait one week so that I can honor the birthday girl, and the familiar friendly face we always see when walking into the retail gallery: MOLLY!

Molly began working at ISAC in 2009, as a retail associate. I was hired in early 2010, and Molly helped to train me up to work in the gallery too. I really enjoyed working with Molly; she is hilarious, and has a great sense of humor. It didn't hurt that we both loved some of the same campy shows from the 1980s (JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS). Back then our days were filled with stocking up the shelves with awesome cake decorating supplies, signing people up for classes, and even teaching a class together ourselves (that's right. Molly and I developed and taught Camp Cupcake for kids). 

Since those early days, Molly has taught cookie decorating classes in Studio B; Molly designs and decorates some amazing royal icing cookies! And now she also manages most of the day to day operation in the retail gallery. Molly orders all the products we sell, manages our Amazon Prime storefront, responds to all of the ISAC emails, processes online orders, interfaces with Chef Nicholas and Scott on grander ISAC topics, and of course... Molly is there to brainstorm, help, and suggest ideas, methods, and products with all of our customers. I know that so many of our customers love Molly. I see it in the way they talk to her in the store. I hear it in their voices when they ask for her on the phone, I see their disappointment when they realize it's Friday, and she isn't working. When we host the master classes, we have a class dinner and all of the staff come along. The students always want Molly to sit at their table. You guys, even my mom, who is not a cake decorator, loves Molly. She thinks Molly is just beautiful. If I am on a work call and my mom is nearby, she will always say, "Is that pretty Molly?! Tell her I say hi!"

Chef Nicholas, Scott, Ann, Carol, Jan, and I are grateful to have the pleasure of working with Molly every day. So, if you see Molly this week, or talk to her on the phone, or send in an email, be sure to wish her a happy birthday (a little late, it was on May 1)! Thanks for all you do at ISAC Molly. We love you, and hope you have a great birthday week! 

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

Hey, hey, hey! Last month, Chef Nicholas kicked off Renshaw Academy; amazing and intensive cake decorating certification courses designed by Chef Nicholas exclusively for Renshaw. There are three different modules: Sugar Flowers, Sugarpaste (rolled fondant), and Royal Icing. In March, the very first Renshaw Academy class on American soil took at ISAC. This first class was the Sugar Flower module. In May, Chef Nicholas will be teaching the second module: Sugarpaste!

Many of our readers know that Sidney Galpern, of Simi Cakes, is a frequent guest instructor at ISAC. Sidney is a superb all around pastry chef, but she is best known for her isomalt designs. Many of our students have taken classes with Sidney in Studio B, and we are so excited to be offering two classes with Sidney this June. In the past, I had written a few blogs dedicated to different products that shape the cake decorating (and pastry) world. As I was brainstorming ideas for this week's blog, I reread some of these previous blogs for a bit of inspiration. I thought it might be fun to tell you all about this history and science behind isomalt. And, Sidney, if you are reading this- I hope I get it all right!

I don't know about you guys... but I am ready for some consistently warm weather! Normally, here in Atlanta, it is pretty hot my mid-April. I think in the last 7 days I have been turning my heat on, my heat off, my air conditioning on, my air conditioning off. I wear shorts one day, and a winter coat the next day. The weather here has been making me crazy, and I have been dreaming about summer weather and the beach vacation I have coming up this summer. I thought, what better way to shake off the last of the winter weather blues by chatting about MIAMI! Well, specifically everyone's favorite cake and candy expo in Miami: SoFlo!

Everyone at ISAC is way beyond excited because Mayen Orido from Way Beyond Cakes is coming to teach two incredible classes in Studio B this July. Everyone knows about sculpted cakes and gravity defying cakes. These cakes are eye-catching and mind boggling. Mayen is taking these types of cakes even further! Would you like a purse cake that actually hangs down when you carry it? What about an old school boombox cake you can carry on your shoulder and HAVE IT PLAY ACTUAL MUSIC?! We are absolutely thrilled to have Mayen come teach both of these classes! Read on for more information about these amazing hanging cake classes and Chef Mayen!

CALLING ALL COOKIE DECORATORS! We have some really SWEET news! Sandra Beltran of You Can Call Me Sweetie is coming to ISAC this year to teach not one, not two, but THREE amazing cookie classes! We are also pleased to announce that Sandra will be featured as our guest instructor at this year's Grand Holiday Open House! I am pretty excited for these three classes, but maybe not as excited as Molly who is a pretty great cookie-er too!! Want to know what stunning cookies Sandra will be making? Well read on my friends!

Another weekend, another fabulous class at ISAC. This past weekend Studio B hosted Chef Dorothy Klerck from South Africa, teaching her mythologically insprired Mighty Pegasus class! I did not have my normal post Open House photo blog (because we wanted to share the blog on CookieCon... which sold out in ONE HOUR), so I thought I would share the progress photos from start to finish from Chef Dot's class. Hope you all enjoy!

What an amazing class! All of the pegagsus cakes look just amazing! I hope all of our students had a great time. A big thank you to Chef Dot for teaching your Mighty Pegasus class in Studio B!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

Hello friends! I have fun and exciting news to share with all of you! Chef Nicholas will be at CookieCon! Hooray! Last year was the first time Chef Nicholas attended CookieCon, but I never mentioned it here on the blog. If you are thinking to yourself, Stephanie... why did you TELL US Chef was going to be at CookieCon? That my friends, is an easy answer. The 2017 CookieCon event sold out so quickly that I didn't even get the chance to write a blog about it. That's right... the event sold out so fast that the blog I was preparing became irrelevant by publication day! Yes, CookieCon is THAT AMAZING. 

It's been a very busy week here at the International Sugar Art Collection. As you may well know, we have our annual Spring Open House in just two days time. The week leading up to our Open House events are always busy, and this week has been no exception. Molly and I were both at ISAC late into Monday evening prepping all of the handouts for Chef Joseph's and Chef Sachiko's demos. Molly has been ordering all kinds of fun new toys and molds for all of you to check out in our gallery this weekend. And, after driving all the way back from Texas on Monday night, Chef Nicholas been putting the final touches on his demo! 

We are so thrilled that both sessions of our Spring Open house has sold out! We are so excited to see you all there! I thought as a fun treat this blog, I would leave you with a fun little history of the chocolate easter egg! I hope you all enjoy!

In 1828 a Dutch inventor created the press that would allow cocoa butter to be separated from the cocoa bean. Before this, chocolate could only be consumed as a hot drink. It's likely that the first chocolate eggs were created in either France or Germany, and were probably solid. It would still take another 19 years for British chocolate maker, Joseph Fry, to mix melted cocoa butter and sugar to form a type of chocolate paste that could be pressed into a mold. Using this chocolate paste to line a easter egg mold was painstaking work. 

In 1866 the Cadbury brothers came up with a method to create large quantities of cocoa butter, and in 1875, the first Cadbury Easter Egg was created! These early eggs were filled with sugard almonds (YUM), and had a plain shell. Today, milk chocolate eggs are the most popular. The Cadbury Creme Egg is very popular in the United States, and are made with liquid chocolate. The chocolate is poured into molds that are "half shells." These are rotated so that the shells are all the same thickness. Once the chocolate has cooled, two halves are joined together to form the eggs we all love to eat at Easter time. To keep up with the large demand, Cadbury produces their chocolate eggs for eight months of the year!

If you are lucky enough to be attending our Spring Open House, then you will all be learning how to make chocolate eggs! Chef Joseph will be showing our guests how to create chocolate easter eggs that can even be used as a cake topper. I don't know about all of you, but now I want to go eat some chocolate, and maybe start writing a blog on this history of chocolate to share with all of you! 

See you all on Saturday!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

Last week I told you that Chef Sachiko had added a super hero man cake to her upcoming March classes with us in Studio B. This week, I am here to share the brand new design for the Bride and Groom class she is offering! With this style topper, Sachiko will show you how easy it is to create this enchanting couple. All the skills you learn in this class can be applied to your future fondant creations, and you can reimagine this couple in any arrangement that best suits your occasion! The wonderful thing about this class, is you will be learning the skills on how to make both male and female fondant figures. That means that you will leave this class will the ability to turn these two people into any one you would like! From real life friends and family to super heroes, fairies, mermaids, anyone you can imagine! This class is open to ALL skill levels from Beginner to Professional. All tools and materials are provided. 

There are still seats available for this wedding, I mean class! If you'd like to sign up, just click here or the photo above. 

I have one more request for all of you: we need your help and opinions! We are looking ahead at our upcoming schedule and would like to know what guest instructors you would like to see at ISAC, or what types of classes (or techniques) you might like to see from Chef Nicholas! If you comment below by next Wednesday (March, 2, 2018, by 5pm EST) a winner will be selected at random from everyone who has commented! The winner will receive a signed copy of Chef Nicholas Lodge's latest book, Spring and Summer Flowers in Gumpaste, and a Click Twist Brush in the color of their choice! 

Thank you all for sharing your ideas, dream classes, and instructors you'd love to learn from! We look forward to heaing your interests and working toward them for you!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

If you follow us on social media or subscribe to our blog or newsletter, you must have heard about the brand new Renshaw Academy! Renshaw Academy is a certification program consisting of three modules: Sugar Flowers, Sugar Paste (rolled fondant), and Royal Icing. Each of these courses is one part of the Renshaw Academy Master Certificate; once all three modules are completed, a Renshaw Academy Master Certificate is awarded! This is a brand new program, with brand new course material developed by Chef Nicholas Lodge. Chef Nicholas will be teaching all three modules in 2018 (including a second Sugar Flower module), as well as a Master Certification class. Oh, and good news if you are Canadian; Chef Nicholas will be teaching a Renshaw Academy Module in Ontario!

March Madness usually refers to the big college basketball tournament here in America. I am using it to discuss the class schedule at ISAC this March! We have three guest instructors in March teaching a total of five classes, Spring Open House, one Chef Nicholas class in Texas, and two Chef Nicholas classes at ISAC. AND, one of the classes at ISAC is part of the BRAND NEW Renshaw Academy series! Let me tell you about all of our March classes, and hopefully you will find a class that you'd like to register for. 

Big news everyone! The incredibly talented Ceri Griffiths is coming to ISAC this November, all the way from the UK! Chef Nicholas and Ceri have known each other for years, but this will be the very first time that Ceri will be teaching at ISAC in Studio B! Ceri Griffiths, author of the award winning book "Border Inspirations 1&2" and internationally recognized English over-piping expert, will be teaching his English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake class. This is an intensive 2-day royal icing class.  Ceri will share with you several of his piped borders, his method of creating toothpick roses and many hints and tips to achieve beautiful work in royal icing.

This class is aimed at students who have previous piping skills due to the volume of piping involved and the pace of the class.

THIS IS NOT A BEGINNERS CLASS!!!

I always get excited when Chef Nicholas has BRAND NEW classes on the schedule! Yes, that means Chef Nicholas has two new classes for you all to enjoy: Gumpaste Wedding Flower Spray and Springtime Gumpaste Flowers! 

In less than two months ISAC will host our 2018 Spring Open House on March 10, 2018. This year we will have two guest instructors that we know will be crowd pleasers: Chef Joseph Cumm and Chef Sachiko Windbiel! As many of you know, Chef Joseph is a frequent guest instructor in our Studio B. Just this past December he taught several French Macaron classes; we started with one, and it sold out so quickly that we ended up adding additional classes! Earlier in 2017, Chef Joseph had taught a chocolate bonbon class and a chocolate showpiece class! All of his classes were very popular, so it was only fitting to invite Chef Joseph to be a part of our Spring Open House this year. 

Chef Sachiko is a Renshaw Brand Associate Partner, or as Chef Nicholas likes to say, "BAP." Chef Nicholas has worked with Chef Sachiko quite a bit in recent years due to their Renshaw Americas association. Sachiko is also the designer of the Chef Nicholas Lodge page picture! She has not taught at here in our school with us yet, but we are all huge fans of her work. Yesterday, we received her demo project and the plans for her classes after the Open House... wow! You are all going to be amazed!